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CataList Homes Opens Multiple Listing Service Search to For-Sale-By-Owner (FSBO) Properties for Free

Posted on: Thursday, 20 July 2006, 06:00 CDT

LOS ANGELES, July 20 /PRNewswire/ -- CataList Homes, known for its clarion call for fair commissions and high-quality, full-service real estate brokerage, has opened its doors to homeowners attempting to sell their own properties by allowing them to post their home sale information, along with photos, free of charge at http://www.catalisthomes.com/.

"With serious home buyers doing almost their entire property search online or with real estate agents, the 'for-sale-by-owner' homeowner ("FSBO") is now marketing their home in a vacuum with little access to the home buyer pool," says Michael Davin, Co-founder of CataList Homes. "By granting them access to post their listings on our website, we're helping an underserved segment of the market be able to compete online."

The real estate market has dramatically moved online in the last two years with advances in web technology like CataList Homes' new interactive map search (http://www.catalisthomes.com/searchVE.aspx) and the proliferation of digital photography and virtual tours. Notably absent from the market are FSBO sellers, who are ostensibly excluded from the online marketplace and thus miss a large portion of buyers. Over ninety percent of online real estate search traffic occurs on websites which are broker or Multiple Listing Service data-driven. None of the top real estate web portals like Realtor.com, HomeGain.com, or Trulia.com allow FSBO listings. For FSBO home sellers, this translates into poor market exposure and a lower price achieved.

The move by CataList to open its website to FSBO listings, integrating them side-by-side with actual MLS listings, is a boon to this market segment and will give this traditionally invisible portion of the market some well needed online exposure. CataList Homes is soon deploying technology that allows FSBO sellers on the site to elect to distribute their data directly to Google and Craigslist for free. To enroll, consumers simply fill out a form online at http://www.catalisthomes.com/ and upload photos. After a quick staff review, the owners receive a confirmation email, and their property appears within hours in search results on the CataList Homes website. The entire process is free and takes only a few minutes.

CataList Homes represents a new breed of real estate companies that places excessive commissions firmly in its crosshairs. "We commend FSBO sellers for trying to cut the excessive commission charged by most real estate companies," continues Mr. Davin. "Our move to open the market to non-traditional sellers is very consistent with our pro-consumer approach designed to offer consumers a choice in the real estate market dominated by many conventional, change-resistant brokerage firms."

The CataList Homes' business model portends great change in the real estate industry, particularly when viewed against the backdrop of the current battle to open up the real estate market, with the Department of Justice, hearings in the US Senate, and numerous academic and consumer groups calling on Realtors to change their market controlling practices.

About CataList Homes, Inc.

CataList Homes was founded in 2000 by Michael Davin and Hal Ellis, co-founder of commercial real estate giant Grubb & Ellis, and operates nine offices serving Southern California. The company utilizes employee based highly productive agents to offer stunning service levels at a total commission rate of 3%. Its website, http://www.catalisthomes.com/ shows consumers both active, pending, and sold home listing data, the only site in California to do so. CataList Homes has listed over 1,300 homes for sale and saved its customers millions in excess fees.

(+) CataList knows of no other firms with this practice. Contact: Michael Davin Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer CataList Homes, Inc. 310-376-5125 mdavin@catalisthomes.com

CataList Homes, Inc.

CONTACT: Michael Davin, Co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer ofCataList Homes, Inc., +1-310-376-5125, mdavin@catalisthomes.com

Web site: http://www.catalisthomes.com/searchVE.aspx

Web site: http://www.catalisthomes.com/

Source: PRNewswire

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